Direct Wines has announced the appointment of Glenn Caton as its new managing director of Laithwaites UK.

Caton is known in the wine trade as he was senior marketing director with E&J Gallo, the world’s largest wine producer. Prior to that he was UK and European business and brand management for Proctor & Gamble.

Born in Yorkshire and married with two children, he lives in Surrey, southern England . He was recruited from Hiscox Insurance where he was managing director for the direct-to-consumer business in the UK.

Laithwaites is part of Direct Wines, which claims to the world’s largest independent wine merchant with annual global sales of more than £340 million. As well as the UK, Direct Wines has operations in Australia, the United States, Hong Kong and continental Europe.

Direct Wines owns Laithwaites, Avery’s and the wine clubs for Virgin Wines, the Sunday Times and the Wall Street Journal.